1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of applying a database to video multimedia. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for applying a database for accessing and processing digital video on a network.
2. Description of the Related Technology
A number of techniques have evolved in recent years as the Internet has grown in size and sophistication, including:                The use of web servers and HTML delivery to web browsers.        The use of the application-server model for connecting database information with web pages and interactive interfaces for end users.        The use of dynamically generated HTML that pulls information from a database to dynamically format HTML for delivery to the end user.        The use of a template language to merge database output with pre-formatted HTML presentations.        The use of ‘cookies’ to track individual user preferences as they interact with the web pages and applications.        The use of e-commerce engines and financial transaction processing technology (such as available from IBM, Qpass, Oracle, etc.)        The use of agent technology to build and manage personalization profiles (such as available from Autonomy, Semio, Cyber Dialog, Net Perceptions, etc.)        The use of auto-categorization technologies to take a segment of transcript or a document, and analyze it using natural language processing techniques to identify category labels that apply to the body of text. Example vendors of these technologies (which also offer search technologies as well) include Webmind, Verity, Autonomy, and Semio.These and other related web technologies and techniques are in commonplace use and readily accessible on the Internet.        
In addition to theses technologies, video indexing technology has also emerged, herein referred to as ‘video logging’. Video logging is a process that incorporates both automated indexing and manual annotation facilities to create a rich, fine-grained (in a temporal sense) index into a body of video content. The index typically consists of a combination of visual and textual indices that permit time-based searching of video content. The index may incorporate spoken text, speaker identifications, facial identifications, on-screen text, and additional annotations, keywords, and descriptions that may be applied by a human user executing the video logging application. The Virage VideoLogger® is one example of this type of video logging technology that is commercially available.
The delivery of streaming media on the Internet typically involves the encoding of video content into one or more streaming video formats and efficient delivery of that content for display to the end users. Common streaming formats presently in use include, RealVideo, Microsoft Windows Media, QuickTime, and MPEG. The video logging technology may coordinate the encoding of one or more of these formats while the video is being indexed to ensure that the video index is time-synchronized with the encoded content. The final delivery of streaming media content for display to an end user is typically accomplished with a wide variety of video serving mechanisms and infrastructure. These mechanisms may include basic video servers (such as those from Real, Microsoft, or Apple), caching appliances (such as those from CacheFlow, Network Appliance, Inktomi, or Cisco), and content distribution networks (herein “CDN's”, such as those from Akamai, Digital Island, iBeam, or Adero). These types of video serving mechanisms ultimately deliver media content for display to the end user.
In an Internet/World Wide Web environment, companies frequently attempt to generate revenue though advertising and electronic commerce (hereinafter referred to as e-commerce) within their website. Whether selling products, services, or advertising, they all have a primary need to engage visitors in a compelling presentation of their offering, or something associated with their offering that ultimately convinces the visitor to make a purchase or follow an ad link, thus generating revenue for the company.
Increased visitors, repeat visitors, and increased visitation time all contribute to revenue streams derived from standard advertising models. In addition, these increased visitation properties also allow more numerous and frequent opportunities for e-commerce (products and services). E-commerce-based Websites exploiting video share the common goal of using rich and interactive media content (such as video) to more effectively sell products and services. Compelling video content can be used to create web experiences that are more efficient and compelling in terms of communicating value and relevance to the (potential) customer. Highly-targeted advertising and e-commerce is made possible by associating demographic and product/service information with video content. Consumers are more likely to respond to targeted offerings than random offerings, thus making the website more productive.
Therefore, what is needed in the technology is a system that effectively uses and manages video in a central role for commerce-oriented websites so as to increase their success. What is desired are mechanisms of associating video with commerce offerings, which in turn, can be used to build the websites and e-commerce tools that many companies and website owners want.